Freak injury casts shadow on McKenzie Meehan's junior season at BC

In less than a week and a half, Rhode Island soccer star McKenzie Meehan went from being the recipient of exciting news to the bearer of bad news.

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CAROLYN THORNTON
Posted Aug. 11, 2014 @ 8:11 pm

In less than a week and a half, Rhode Island soccer star McKenzie Meehan went from being the recipient of exciting news to the bearer of bad news.

Not long after learning that she had been chosen to represent the United States at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Canada, the 19-year-old forward was back on the phone, notifying national team coach Michelle French that she would be unable to compete after injuring her Achilles tendon in a freak accident at home.

The injury has also cast a shadow of uncertainty on Meehan’s upcoming junior year at Boston College.

“I still can’t fathom how it happened,” she said Monday. “It was such a weird thing.”

Meehan, a three-time All-Stater and two-time Gatorade Rhode Island Player of the Year while at La Salle Academy, had just returned home to Glocester after participating in a two-week camp with the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team in Seattle. It was the final camp of many that she had taken part in over the last several months, and she was excited to learn that she would be making the trip to Canada for the World Cup tournament, which began on Aug. 5 and continues through the Aug. 24 in Edmonton, Moncton, Montreal and Toronto.

In January, Meehan had helped the U-20 squad capture the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship in the Cayman Islands, where she received the co-Golden Boot Award with a tourney-leading six goals. The team’s victory there had qualified the U.S. for this month’s FIFA World Cup.

But late last month — less than a week before she was set to leave for Canada — Meehan and a friend were out in the yard at Meehan’s home. Her friend was showing Meehan her new cleats, so Meehan decided to run upstairs to get hers.

That’s when a full-length mirror hanging on her bedroom wall fell, slicing the back of Meehan’s right heel.

“It was such a freak accident,” she said. “I’m not sure how it happened. The mirror hangs on the wall. It’s been there so long, I don’t know how it fell.”

There were shards of glass in the cut and there was quite a bit of blood, so Meehan immediately went to the emergency room, where she received 10 stitches. Still, she initially didn’t think the injury was all that bad.

“I just thought it was a cut because it didn’t hurt,” Meehan said. “And at first the doctor said it was only 15 percent torn. But then we got the results of the MRI on that Monday, and it showed that it was 85 percent torn.”

The prognosis is still uncertain. Meehan has since been seen by Dr. Bojan Zoric, the team physician for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. She must remain on crutches with her foot in a boot for six weeks. There is still a possibility that she will need surgery, but it is too soon to tell.

“I was just real upset at first,” said Meehan, “It was more than just that I wouldn’t be able to go to the World Cup. I had gone to camps, one every month, and the team was finally named and all of a sudden I tore my Achilles.”

There is also the uncertainty that now surrounds her collegiate season. It’s been “pretty hard” having to watch from the sidelines as Boston College goes through its preseason workouts, said Meehan, who was named one of the team’s captains this season.

“They’re going to take a look at it (on Tuesday), and then the U.S. team doctor and our medical staff will get together and come up with the best course of action,” said Eagles coach Alison Foley. “They’ve got to see how well it has healed up so far.

“Normally when somebody injures their Achilles, it has popped while extended in athletic motion,” she added. “Very, very rarely does somebody experience a severed Achilles. So from what I’ve been told, this is the lesser of two evils. I think we have a great team of doctors, between the U.S. doctor and the BC doctors, and they are collaborating and evaluating. So everyone will make the best plan and move forward.”

Other than suffering a concussion last fall that caused her to miss one game, Meehan has enjoyed an otherwise injury-free — not to mention outstanding — soccer career.

At La Salle, she and twin sister Madison helped the Rams capture four Division I state championships. Finishing with 180 career goals, McKenzie led the nation with 80 goals in her senior year, recording 16 hat tricks in 22 games.

At Boston College, where she and her sister are again teammates, Meehan has had an immediate impact on the team. She was named BC’s 2013-14 Female Athlete of the Year as a sophomore after leading the Atlantic Coast Conference with a school-record 20 goals, nine of them game-winners, and helping the Eagles advance to the Elite Eight of last year’s NCAA Division I championship.

“In terms of where she is as an athlete, her recovery will be so much faster than most,” said Foley. “We’ll get a better idea in the next few weeks. And if anyone is going to show any signs of being super human, it’s Kenz.”